Fangirling

Last night I was hanging out with my addictive friend "Facebook" and a posting from one of my smartest college classmates Lauren popped up. I read it with great interest because it contained a word that I had never heard of before. I wouldn't have made it through college without Lauren. She was responsible for typing all of my college term papers and for cutting my hair during my four years at Davidson College. (Just to be clear.. I wrote the papers, Lauren typed them... back when we used to have these contraptions called typewriters.) On her Facebook page Lauren mentioned her daughter was freaking out because the band "One Direction" had a new album coming out and that some of the songs had been "leaked." It was the last sentence of her post that caught my attention... "Let the fangirling begin."

Fangirling? I had never hear of such a word. I was quick to jump on dictionary.com and to the best of their knowledge no such word exists in the English language. I put my "cool, suave and debonair" factor aside and just went straight to the source. I wrote on Lauren's Facebook page, please enlighten me to the meaning of the word "fangirling."

Within minutes I had my answer...

Urban Dictionary says:
v. 1. the reaction a fangirl has to any mention or sighting of the object of her "affection". These reactions include shortness of breath, fainting, highpitched noises, shaking, fierce head shaking as if in the midst of a seizure, endless blog posts, etc.

2. a gathering of two or more fangirls in which they proceed to waste endless amounts of time ogling, discussing/arguing, stalking, etc. the object of their "affection"

Who knew?

My iWitness...

Well... most of you know me by now... this got me thinking about Jesus.

Did Jesus have fans that were girls?

I'm thinking Martha was a "fangirl."

Jesus knocks on the door of the home of the sisters, Mary and Martha.
Martha looks through the peephole and the fangirling begins!
"Oh Mary! Oh Mary! OMG Mary! It's Jesus! He's at the front door! What do I do?... just look at me, I am a wreck, quick get the water on the fire, I have to make him his favorite kosher meal,... hold on a minute... you get the door... I will text Lazarus... "JC @ frnt dor"... Get him to sit down in the front room... I have to make dinner... I have got to tweet this... "#Jesusnmyhouse"... get me a paper bag so I can stop hyperventilating... I have to fix my hair so I can "snapchat" us...Wait until I post this on Facebook my friends are going to go crazy! I have the hottest looking chiseled six pack abs carpenter turned rabbi turned savior in my house! Woohoo!!" My blog is going to get a record number of page views today!!" "@marthastewart...I was Martha first!"

And then the "Fangirling" takes a nasty turn with an obsessive Martha chastising Mary to get her rear in gear and get in the kitchen and help out as Mary just sits there at the feet of Jesus.

Jesus stops all the fangirling in a heartbeat with two sentences..."Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10. 41-21)
I can't tell you how many "Marthas" I have run into who defend Martha by saying, "Well someone had to get the work done."

Listen again to the words of Jesus... "Martha you are anxious and troubled about many things..."

There is nothing wrong with being a "fangirl"!

However, when being a fangirl or a fanboy leads to "anxiety" and "troubledness" then we have a problem.
That's the problem with fangirling or fanboying in the Christian world...
It treats the object of our affection, Jesus as just that... An object!
Jesus is not an object.
He is the subject of our service, our servitude and our sensibilities.
He is our Savior.
And if I can keep that in mind then...

Let the fangirling begin!

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!